Strawberry Spinach Pasta Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

Sweet and tangy strawberry spinach pasta salad with orange poppyseed dressing with pineapple, cashews, and tart cranberries is the perfect potluck side dish for every get together.

I’m admitting it here and now, I have a pasta salad obsession.

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s been over a hundred degrees consistently this month and I have a hard time turning on the oven in these kinds of conditions, maybe it’s just that I I like the idea of taking lettuce, adding pasta and fruit or veggies, a handful of goodies like nuts and dried berries or cheese, and calling it a salad.

Whatever it is, I can’t get enough of this side dish/main dish/9pm leftovers snack.

For Memorial Day my family got together for a big barbecue to kick off Summer and my mother’s good friend Penny contributed a pasta salad to the plethora of potluck goodness. It had dried berries and spinach and penne noodles, along with pineapple, strawberries, and some kind of orange poppy seed dressing.

You see where I’m going with this.

I ate it. I love it. I had to recreate it for myself.

So this is my simplified version of that BOMB pasta salad. She actually added shredded chicken to her salad and I thought that was brilliant so if you’ve got some leftover chicken in the fridge or maybe some rotisserie chicken begging to be used up, put it in this salad. You will not regret it.

And feel free to customize this recipe, it’s very forgiving. Swap out the pineapple for mandarin oranges, or add dried blueberries or cherries instead of the cranberries. Don’t limit yourself to cashews if you prefer walnuts or pecans – go where your pantry takes you!

I like to use fresh-squeezed orange juice for the dressing but you can absolutely use that carton of OJ you’ve been reaching for at breakfast each morning.

If you want to make this salad ahead of time (more than one hour ahead) I would recommend waiting to add the dressing until just before serving. Just keep it in a covered jar until ready to serve, then toss and enjoy!

What people are saying about this Strawberry Spinach Pasta Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing

“Made this salad for a family reunion this weekend and it was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. Cool, refreshing with a great combination of flavors.” – Becky

“My favorite salad!!! Love this poppy seed dressing.” – Iona

“Thanks for a great recipe! I made extra of the salad dressing and used it as a marinade for grilled chicken breasts. This is definitely a keeper!!” – Becky

“We made this last weekend. I’m prepping it again for tomorrow! We loved it so much, it will become a staple for us.” – Denise

Jennifer

Becky

Made this salad for a family reunion this weekend and it was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. Cool, refreshing with a great combiation of flavors. The only additions might be chicken breasts ad feta cheese to make it a meal. Delish!!ofti

Linda T

Kathleen Taylor

thank you so much for this! I changed it up a bit, since I eat whole foods/plant based. I subbed out the oil and yogurt for an avocado and put all the dressing ingredients except the poppy seeds in the blender, then added the seed. It was amazing, and I didn’t miss the other fats at ALL. My hubby ate FOUR bowls <3 Thanks, again!

Gloria Eberhart

Kameron Patrick

Great salad!! I used the whole box of pasta-16oz instead of just 8oz the recipe calls for. I had plenty of dressing to coat it all. Wonderful flavors! I’m not a fan on nuts in my salads so I left them out and had some goat cheese I really needed to use up so I crumbled that on top.
This recipe’s a keeper for me!

Stephani

Tiffany

Doris Shea

I made the pasta fruit salad but added fresh blueberries instead of dried and chose organic walnuts. I pretty much used organic ingredients except the pineapple. Same forf the dressing, all organic. It was fabulous.

Doris Shea

I made the pasta fruit salad but added fresh blueberries instead of dried and chose organic walnuts. I pretty much used organic ingredients except the pineapple. Same for the dressing, all organic. It was fabulous.

Tiffany

Monica

Well i made this tonight for dinner and i dont know what i did wrong but the dressining was not eDible. Luckily , i had not put it on the sald. I remade it with Less apple cider vinegar and it was better but not great so we addEd Italian vinegarette and it was better.

Tiffany

Tiffany

Hi Patty- I definitely suggest that you refrigerate without the dressing on. Keep it fresh and put it on right before serving! The dressing will last a couple days in the fridge, you will just need to shake it up really good before using.

Tiffany

Denise

We made this Last weekend. And im prepping it again, foe tomorrow. We loved it so much i believe it will become a Staple for us.

I cant have tRee nuts so we left the nuts out and added them seperately per bowl for those who wanted them whIle i added some sUnFlower keRnels to mine.

I noticed, whIle ChEcking tO make sure i wasnT missing anything for tomorrow’s lUncH, So many people suggested feta cheese. We Added goat cheese crumbles to the second roUnd last weekend and it was superb.

Tiffany

Hi Denise- I am happy to hear that you all loved this salad so much! It is for sure one of my absolute favorites! Sunflower kernels sounds great on this- nice substitution! I love goat or feta cheese on this- I add cheese every time if I have some on hand!